Looking for new ideas to incorporate into the Sunday Intercessions I asked a friend who teaches middle school Earth Science if she could find a way to ask her classes for insights. As these are public school teenagers (basically 13 years old) the question would have to be posed delicately.
So she showed them a short film about a town that had been leveled by a tornado. An elderly woman was interviewed who had survived by hiding in the bathroom of her home with her dog in her arms. After the tornado came through which lifted her up and threw her outside, she was found lying in the wreckage, calling for the dog, but there was no response.
But during the interview the camera woman saw the dog trapped underneath the house-debris. When the dog was freed and given back to the owner she said, "God already answered my prayer that I'd survive and now has answered another prayer, that I'd find my dog alive."
After the film the young people formed groups to discuss the woman's response to surviving and having her dog returned alive. In one group there was a Muslim boy wearing a round cap, a Sikh boy wearing a turban and a Hindu girl. These are the American-born sons and daughters of immigrants from India, Pakistan, Philippines, China, Vietnam, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Jamaica West Indies, Puerto Rico, Mexico and even one from Romania.
But during the interview the camera woman saw the dog trapped underneath the house-debris. When the dog was freed and given back to the owner she said, "God already answered my prayer that I'd survive and now has answered another prayer, that I'd find my dog alive."
After the film the young people formed groups to discuss the woman's response to surviving and having her dog returned alive. In one group there was a Muslim boy wearing a round cap, a Sikh boy wearing a turban and a Hindu girl. These are the American-born sons and daughters of immigrants from India, Pakistan, Philippines, China, Vietnam, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Jamaica West Indies, Puerto Rico, Mexico and even one from Romania.
The teacher asked: "If you were going to pray, what would you pray or wish for? Write what you want, but don't pray that your favorite team will win. And no one else will know what you've written." Some of the teens have a larger world view already while others see the world smaller, more immediate and close. We might read between the lines and detect school fears and learning issues, depression, distraction and anxieties. Here are their prayer-concerns.
- for happiness in my family
- for people who are sick and who will never get better
- for cures for diseases
- for a cure for cancer
- for terrorism to end
- for no more bombings
- to see my family again
- for people who have no food
- to keep my family safe and together
- for world peace
- for friendships to last
- for the people whose house burned down
- for people not to talk behind your back
- to be happy
- for wars to end
- for kids in hospitals
- for people with autism
- to feel safe
- to be a good person
- for people to be nice to each other
- to stay in one place
- to feel normal
I think these prayer concerns are amazing in their sensitivity and awareness. Some people ask if prayer works. That sounds magical to me. For me, the first thing prayer does is it awakens the heart. That's all I care about - that our hearts come out of the alluring coma. We hope that each generation will somehow be better than the one before. I feel hope here.
